American Traitor, page 34
part #15 of Pike Logan Series
I took that in, then said, “The date on the card was for tomorrow. What’s he doing there?”
As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized they were no help. Before she could respond, I said, “Okay, we can’t conduct a B&E with them inside. I’m going to release you to the seventieth outcropping. Get inside the door and then get down. We’ll have to reassess. On the bright side, at least we don’t have to wonder if Chen’s showing up.”
She said, “Hang on. Hold me in place. They’re getting up. It looks like the meeting is over.”
I stopped my work on the descender, saying, “Get a photo. Can you get a photo?”
“Stand by.”
I felt my phone buzz and looked at the picture, then said, “Blood, is that the guy you saw go in the elevator?”
He said, “Yep. That’s the guy.”
And we had our link. We didn’t need to get inside the office now. We only needed to take that guy down.
On the net I said, “Jennifer, I’m dropping you to the seventieth floor. Don’t worry about breaking into the office.”
She said, “This is Koko. Roger all. What am I doing?”
“Get in the building through the access door, then find a way down to the bottom floor. We can’t get in with Chen still there, and there’s no telling how long he is going to stay.”
She said, “Unsub is leaving. I say again, Unsub is leaving. Chen is there with the woman from the pub in Kuranda. And she’s getting a little freaky.”
“What’s that mean?”
“I don’t know. She’s got a weird long fingernail and she’s stroking Unsub’s cheek like she wants to kill him. Unsub is freaking out. He’s running to the door. He’s out.”
I didn’t really know what to make of that assessment, but I knew one thing: Unsub was leaving.
I said, “Okay, get ready to drop. You good?”
“Yeah, I’m good. If I can’t get the maintenance door open, am I still coming back up to you?”
“No. We’ll have to figure that out. I’m headed down.”
I heard, “What’s that mean? Pike?”
And I cut the descender, dropping her another five floors. I looked over the edge, saw her on the outcropping next to the maintenance door, and said, “Koko, Koko, are you good?”
Breathing hard through the radio, she said, “I’m on the ledge, you asshole.”
I grinned. “Okay. Good to go. Everyone on Unsub. I’m headed down.”
Jennifer said, “Pike, don’t you leave me here.”
I said, “I’m not. I mean, I’m not for long. You can get through that door. Find a public elevator and meet me.”
Before she could answer, I said, “Break, break, Blood, Veep, get a lock-on for Unsub when he exits.”
Jennifer came on the net, cold as ice, saying, “You are literally dead to me.”
I cut the cable from the descender, watching it snake over the edge, knowing it was Jennifer’s only way back up. I packed up the descender and said, “Hide the cable. Work that door. It can’t be hard. If you can’t penetrate, I’ll come back up to get you.”
Knuckles came on. “What about the Unsub that’s tracking our guy? He’s still waiting on him out here.”
Then Veep said, “And he’s got company. He doesn’t know it, but he’s being tracked by four thugs. They keep circling around in this mall, and they definitely don’t fit in. They’re tracking him.”
I went through the lobby of the observation deck restaurant, nodding at the access control guy and hoping he didn’t ask where my date had gone, my backpack on my shoulder.
I cleared past him and said, “So we have someone else tracking our guy, and that guy is being tracked by others?”
“Yes. That’s what I think is happening.”
What the hell? What is going on here?
I reached the elevators and said, “Are you guys burned? Do either one of them know you’re interested in the same thing?”
“No. We’re clean. But that other guy is not, I promise.”
I pushed the button for the lobby on the fourth floor and said, “Just track them all. Let’s see what happens.”
Jennifer came on. “I’m in the maintenance level. At the elevator.”
I smiled. “Very good, Koko.”
I went down twenty floors and the elevator stopped. It opened, and I was looking at one pissed-off commando.
Jennifer entered and said, “I ought to kick you in the balls for that.”
Veep came on and said, “Unsub one is out. Unsub two is tracking him. Wolf pack is now tracking the entire show.”
I punched the “door close” button and, off the net, said to Jennifer, “Yeah, you can kick my ass later. What do we do with this mess?”
She saw the conflict on my face and realized that any beatdown was going to have to wait. She went right back into problem-solving mode, which is something she was good at.
I saw her wheels turning, and waited. She said, “We know the guy in the room is attached to Chen, but we don’t know who he is. He’s the target. Whatever else is going on, we need to take him down. It’ll just be a little harder.”
“Or we could stake out the same elevator and wait on Chen Ju-Long. Jake’s probably with him.”
She thought a moment, then said, “Yeah, maybe, but we don’t even know if Jake’s with him, or whether Chen has an apartment here, or a host of other things. He might not leave for twenty-four hours. We know that guy was talking to Chen. It’s the old ‘bird in the hand’ thing here. I say we focus on him. We can always come back and stake this place out.”
Which is exactly what I was thinking. I relayed to the team to continue on Unsub One, and she gave me her little impish grin, then said, “That’s not going to protect you from an ass-kicking, though.”
I smiled back. “Plenty of time for that later. When we’re alone.”
The elevator dropped like a rock thrown into a well, so fast it made my stomach flip, the floors whipping by on the LED screen.
Knuckles said, “Unsub One is on the escalators down to ground level. Unsub Two is behind him. The wolf pack are following.”
I said, “Unsub One is the target. I say again, Unsub One is the target.”
Knuckles said, “What about Unsub Two and the wolf pack?”
I said, “Just track Unsub One. We’re still coming down.”
The elevators in the building were supposedly the fastest in the world, but when you had to go a hundred floors, it still seemed like forever.
We finally hit the lobby level on the fourth floor and began racing down the escalators. I said, “We’re coming out. Give me a lock-on.”
“On the north-south street, but Pike, I think this is going to get nasty. The wolf pack are tracking both of them, and they look like they came to play.”
Chapter 75
Paul saw Ryan exit the elevator, the appearance sending adrenaline through his body like an electric current. He jolted upright, then glanced around to see if anyone had noticed the reaction. He saw two twenty-somethings stare at him, but nothing else.
He paid them no mind. He’d seen their type before in places like this. Young men with no ability to afford the stores, but still wanting to show the elite class that they could explore the mall like any of the wealthy who came to shop.
He remained seated next to the public elevator bank, waiting on Ryan to pass. When he did, Paul began to follow, fixated on his crew-cut hair in the crowd, not noticing that the interest of the two men earlier hadn’t waned.
Ryan went down the first set of escalators, rounding the corner for the next one, and Paul followed. On the turn, he glanced behind, and for the first time, he noticed the two men from earlier. He swiveled his head forward, his face showing no reaction, but he began to believe he was being tracked even as he was following Ryan.
Ryan rounded the escalator to the next floor and Paul stayed behind him. Using the natural choke point of the escalator, he identified two more men. He realized they were not average young malcontents wandering a mall with stores they couldn’t afford.
They were Triad.
One more escalator switch later, and he was sure. By the time he reached the ground floor he knew the men above were tracking him, and it left him with a choice: Continue on with Ryan, or break free.
He decided that tracking Ryan might now be a risk—especially if the man himself was in contact with the Triad members following. It very well could be a setup designed to take him out.
He had no idea how the Bamboo Triad had identified him as a threat. Maybe they were just security for Ryan, or maybe it was his actions in Jiufen, but either way, he had no illusions about their capabilities. He had a dead asset for proof of that.
He decided the best course of action was to leave Ryan and get to a populated area. If they were working together, and they were simply security, that alone would cause them to break off.
He followed Ryan onto the street, and when he went right, toward the metro station, Paul went left, heading to a popular plaza known as the Xinyi shopping district. With three square blocks of the latest restaurants, stores, and nightlife interspersed among green spaces and pedestrian walkways, it would give him the protection he needed. Called the “Manhattan of Taipei,” it was a natural deterrent for the men following. But he was sure when he broke away from Ryan, they would leave him alone.
He reached the lights of the shopping district two blocks away, seeing the crowds milling about, pretending that the chaos happening just down the road wasn’t in fact ripping his country apart. He wondered if they realized that Taiwan was at a breaking point. If they thought that shopping and partying in this district would somehow protect them from the anarchy that was coming, but he knew they did not. Nobody his age in Taiwan did. China taking over the country by force was just a myth that the old people feared.
The human condition never wanted to believe that the worst has come. Whether Jews in Europe or Taiwan itself, it was easier just to believe the bad man wasn’t coming.
Waiting to cross the street, Paul glanced behind him and saw the four Triad members. Unlike the people shopping, he knew who the bad man was, and he was here.
We reached the bottom floor, having a choice of going out the front door or leaving through the parking garage, and I got a call from Knuckles saying, “We’re on them. This is a mess. We’re following a team who are following a guy who is following a guy. Pike, we can’t keep this up. There’s no way to do this clean.”
I said, “Okay, okay, I get it. Just stay on them for a minute. We’ll make a call shortly. Where are you?”
“On the north-south street right out of the exit. I’ve got the eye. Blood and Veep are on Unsub One.”
I said, “Front exit? Or the parking garage?”
“Front exit. Unsub One is headed to the metro.”
I looked at Jennifer and said, “I’ll be there shortly.”
She started moving at a sprint and I followed close behind.
Knuckles said, “All elements, all elements, I have five-five. Unsub Two has broken free from Unsub One. He’s headed my way. Who’s got the eye on Unsub One?”
Brett said, “This is Blood. I have Unsub One headed south on Songzhi Road, toward the metro.”
Jennifer and I broke out onto the street and I said, “Give me a status.”
Knuckles said, “Unsub Two still headed north. The wolf pack is following.”
Brett said, “Unsub One closing on the metro station, same road.”
“Where are the bumpers? Veep, where are you?”
“I’m at the metro, waiting on pickup.”
We started moving in the direction Brett gave and I said, “Knuckles, Knuckles, what’s the wolf pack doing?”
“They’re tracking him. Still on him.”
What the hell? The fact that another man outside of our target was being tracked was disconcerting, and gave me pause. I said, “Are all of the wolf pack on him right now?”
Knuckles said, “He just entered a large shopping area, and yeah, he’s got the assholes behind him.”
I stopped walking, saying, “Meaning Unsub One is now alone?”
Brett said, “This is Blood. Unsub One is by himself.”
Perfect. I tapped Jennifer’s arm and started racing to the metro, saying, “Okay, Koko and I are headed to the station and Unsub One. Knuckles, break off of Unsub Two and follow. We’ll give you a lock-on once we make contact. Blood, Veep, give me a track.”
I heard, “Pike, Pike, this is Knuckles. These guys are looking like they want to take down Unsub Two. They’re hunting him.”
I slowed, hearing the tone of his voice over the radio. It wasn’t just a situation report. He felt something. I said, “What’s that mean? How do you know?”
“I can’t give you an answer. I just know.”
Jennifer looked at me, waiting on a decision, and I was torn. Something bigger was in play here. Why was someone trying to attack a man who was following our own target? Was he on our side?
Off the net, to Jennifer, I said, “What do you think?”
She paused, knowing I was asking because I wanted her opinion, and that that opinion held weight with me.
I waited a beat, then grew impatient. “Jennifer, what the fuck do you think? I have to make a call.”
She looked up the street, where Unsub One was rapidly disappearing, then said, “Honestly? I think that guy is a bigger link than Unsub One. I think he was tracking a man who’s associated with Chen Ju-Long for bad stuff. He’s trying to solve the same problem we are, and Chen is trying to stop him.”
“Meaning he’s like us? He’s a good guy? And Chen Ju-Long is trying to kill him? Here in Taiwan?”
She exhaled and said, “Yeah. That’s what I think. He might be a white hat. But it’s your call.”
And that was the problem. She could give me an opinion all day long, but it was my decision, not hers, and she knew it. She understood the pressure, but honestly, she was pretty good at penetrating through the chaos, and her thought was exactly what I believed. This guy was tracking a bad guy, and he himself was being tracked by bad guys. He was following the same thread we were, only he didn’t know he was about to be eaten by wolves. And we could stop it.
I got on the net and said, “Change of mission. Change of mission. It’s now a PSD. Do not let any harm come to Unsub Two.”
Knuckles said, “Come again? You want us to act as his personal security detail?”
I started jogging up the street in the opposite direction I had been going, saying, “Yes. Veep, Blood, get your ass back here and into the fight.”
Brett said, “Pike, you’re leaving the very guy that was in Chen’s office to track an unknown.”
I could hear the incredulity in his voice, him understanding I was giving up the one thread we had to locate Jake Shu for something that was nothing more than a whisper.
I said, “Yeah, I get it, but we could use some help here in Taiwan, and I think that man can give it to us.”
He came back, “Pike, are you sure about this?”
Truthfully, I wasn’t sure at all. I looked at Jennifer, and she nodded. Meaning she believed, which was enough for me. I said, “Just do it. If he gets attacked, you interdict.”
Chapter 76
Paul crossed the street, entering the lights of the shopping district, thin tendrils of panic reaching the pit of his stomach. He immediately went to the first stairwell he could find and took them two at a time, then entered the indoor mall, speed-walking through an area selling clothes, then a mattress store. He found an escalator and went up one more level. He paused on the metal as he glided up, glancing behind him.
The men were still there, and still coming.
He felt the panic rise higher. Surely they wouldn’t try anything here, would they?
But he didn’t know that. He didn’t know what they were being paid. The Triad may have said his death was the price of admittance into the group. The men behind him could be well prepared to kill him in full view of anyone, their lives forfeited to the Snow Leopard.
He hit the third floor, raced through a store onto an outside walkway overlooking a green space, and began sprinting, now trying to do nothing more than increase his separation, all thought of acting normal gone. He drew stares from his rush down the balcony, but no longer cared. He gave thought to leaping over it, like he had in Tainan, but didn’t. There were no trees to break his fall this time. He’d just be doing their work for them when he impacted the pavement.
He passed outdoor seating for a restaurant, then reversed, jerking open the door and seeing a sign proclaiming “Gordon Biersch” on a mirror behind the bar, the rest of the place an open floor plan full of patrons. The nearest tables jerked their heads to him at his rushed appearance, but he ignored them, racing to the hostess stand. He needed a place to hide, before the men entered the restaurant and regained sight of him. Somewhere to let them pass him by.
He said, “Where’s the bathroom?”
The hostess looked at the sweat on his brow and said, “Out the front, through the next store. We don’t have a bathroom here.”
He snapped, “Where? Where is it?”
She backed up a step and said, “Go through the jewelry section of the next store and you’ll see it on the left.”
He thanked her, then followed her instructions, looking for the men behind him as he did so. They didn’t appear. He slowed down, slinking through the department store adjacent to the restaurant, not wanting to draw attention to himself, glancing left and right like a bird looking for the cat.
He passed the jewelry section, saw a sign for the public bathrooms, and went left, threading through the aisles until he reached the hallway.
He went down the passage, seeing a sign for the women’s restroom on the left, and the men’s on the right. He peeked behind him and saw nothing. He went right, entering the bathroom and finding a man with his child. He nodded at the man, getting a strange look in return for the sweat coming through his shirt.
He realized he either looked like he’d run a marathon or he was a drug addict, but he could do nothing about that now.
